Salvator was born during Spain’s Golden Age. Art, politics and wealth were flourishing. So was religion. Ignatius of Loyola founded the Society of Jesus in 1540.

Salvator’s parents were poor.

At the age of 21 he entered the Franciscans as a brother and was soon known for his asceticism,

humility and simplicity.

As cook, porter and later the official beggar for the friars in Tortosa, he became well known for his charity. He healed the sick with the Sign of the Cross. When crowds of sick people began coming to the friary to see Salvator, the friars transferred him to Horta. Again the sick flocked to ask his intercession; one person estimated that two thousand people a week came to see Salvator. He told them to examine their consciences, to go to confession and to receive Holy Communion worthily.

He refused to pray for those who would not receive those sacraments.

The public attention given to Salvator was relentless. The crowds would sometimes tear off pieces of his habit as relics. Two years before his death, Salvator was moved again, this time to Cagliari on the island of Sardinia. He died at Cagliari saying, "Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit."

For it was without cause that they spread out their nets to ensnare me,

without cause that they dug a pit to take my life.

Let death come upon them suddenly,

may they be entangled in their own nets.

But my soul will exult in the Lord

and rejoice in his aid.

My bones themselves will say

“Lord, who is your equal?”

You snatch the poor man

from the hand of the strong,

the needy and weak

from those who would destroy them.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,

as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,

world without end.

Amen.

O Lord, arise to help me.

Psalm 34 (35)

Lord, plead my cause;

defend me with your strength.

Lying witnesses rose up against me;

they asked me questions I could not answer.

They paid me back evil for the good I did,

my soul is desolation.

Yet I – when they were ill, I put on sackcloth,

I mortified my soul with fasting,

I prayed for them from the depths of my heart.

I walked in sadness as for a close friend, for a brother;

I was bowed down with grief as if mourning my own mother.

But they – when I was unsteady, they rejoiced and gathered together.

They gathered and beat me: I did not know why.

They were tearing me to pieces, there was no end to it:

they teased me, heaped derision on me, they ground their teeth at me.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,

as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,

world without end.

Amen.

Lord, plead my cause;

defend me with your strength.

Psalm 34 (35)

My tongue shall speak of your justice,

all day long.

Lord, how long will you wait?

Rescue my life from their attacks,

my only life from the lions.

I will proclaim you in the great assembly,

in the throng of people I will praise you.

Let not my lying enemies triumph over me,

those who hate me for no reason,

who conspire against me by secret signs,

who do not speak of peace,

who plan crimes against the innocent,

who cry out slanders against me,

saying “Yes! Yes! We saw it ourselves!”

You see them, Lord, do not stay silent:

Lord, do not leave me.

Rise up and keep watch at my trial:

my God and my Lord, watch over my case.

Judge me according to your justice,

Lord: my God, let them not rejoice over me!

Let them not think to themselves,

“Yes! We have what we wanted!”

Let them not say,

“We have swallowed him up.”

But let those who support my cause rejoice,

let them say always “How great is the Lord,

who takes care of his servant’s welfare.”

And my tongue too will ponder your justice,

and praise you all day long.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,

as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,

world without end.

Amen.

My tongue shall speak of your justice,

all day long.

Turn back to the Lord your God,

– because he is tenderness and compassion.

First Reading

Hebrews 7:11-28

If perfection had been reached through the levitical priesthood because the Law given to the nation rests on it, why was it still necessary for a new priesthood to arise, one of the same order as Melchizedek not counted as being ‘of the same order as’ Aaron?

But any change in the priesthood must mean a change in the Law as well.

So our Lord, of whom these things were said, belonged to a different tribe, the members of which have never done service at the altar; everyone knows he came from Judah,

a tribe which Moses did not even mention when dealing with priests.

This becomes even more clearly evident when there appears a second Melchizedek, who is a priest not by virtue of a law about physical descent, but by the power of an indestructible life. For it was about him that the prophecy was made: You are a priest of the order of Melchizedek, and for ever. The earlier commandment is thus abolished, because it was neither effective nor useful, since the Law could not make anyone perfect; but now this commandment is replaced by something better –

the hope that brings us nearer to God.

What is more, this was not done without the taking of an oath. The others, indeed, were made priests without any oath; but he with an oath sworn by the one who declared to him: The Lord has sworn an oath which he will never retract: you are a priest, and for ever. And it follows that it is a greater covenant for which Jesus has become our guarantee. Then there used to be a great number of those other priests, because death put an end to each one of them; but this one, because he remains forever, can never lose his priesthood. It follows, then, that his power to save is utterly certain,

since he is living forever to intercede for all who come to God through him.

To suit us, the ideal high priest would have to be holy, innocent and uncontaminated, beyond the influence of sinners, and raised up above the heavens; one who would not need to offer sacrifices every day, as the other high priests do for their own sins and then for those of the people, because he has done this once and for all by offering himself. The Law appoints high priests who are men subject to weakness; but the promise on oath, which came after the Law,

appointed the Son who is made perfect forever.

Responsory

Christ did not give himself the glory of becoming high priest:

he had it from the one who said to him,

‘You are a priest forever,

a priest like Melchizedek of old.’

Others were made priests without any oath,

but Jesus with an oath by the one who declared to him,

‘You are a priest forever,

a priest like Melchizedek of old.’

Second Reading

From a treatise on faith addressed to Peter

by Saint Fulgentius of Ruspe, bishop

Christ offered himself for us

The sacrifices of animal victims which our forefathers were commanded to offer to God by the holy Trinity itself, the one God of the old and the new testaments, foreshadowed the most acceptable gift of all. This was the offering which in his compassion the only Son of God would make of himself in his human nature for our sake.

The Apostle teaches that Christ offered himself for us to God as a fragrant offering and sacrifice. He is the true God and the true high priest who for our sake entered once for all into the holy of holies, taking with him not the blood of bulls and goats but his own blood. This was foreshadowed by the high priest of old when each year he took blood and entered the holy of holies.

Christ is therefore the one who in himself alone embodied all that he knew to be necessary to achieve our redemption. He is at once priest and sacrifice, God and temple. He is the priest through whom we have been reconciled, the sacrifice by which we have been reconciled, the temple in which we have been reconciled, the God with whom we have been reconciled. He alone is priest, sacrifice and temple because he is all these things as God in the form of a servant; but he is not alone as God,

for he is this with the Father and the Holy Spirit in the form of God.

Hold fast to this and never doubt it: the only-begotten Son, God the Word, becoming man offered himself for us to God as a fragrant offering and sacrifice. In the time of the old testament, patriarchs, prophets and priests sacrificed animals in his honor,

and in honor of the Father and the Holy Spirit as well.

Now in the time of the new testament the holy catholic Church throughout the world never ceases to offer the sacrifice of bread and wine, in faith and love, to him and to the Father and the Holy Spirit,

with whom he shares one godhead.

Those animal sacrifices foreshadowed the flesh of Christ which he would offer for our sins, though himself without sin, and the blood which he would pour out for the forgiveness of our sins. In this sacrifice there is thanksgiving for, and commemoration of, the flesh of Christ that he offered for us, and the blood that the same God poured out for us. On this Saint Paul says in the Acts of the Apostles: Keep watch over yourselves and over the whole flock, in which the Holy Spirit has appointed you as bishops to rule the Church of God, which he won for himself by his blood.

Those sacrifices of old pointed in sign to what was to be given to us. In this sacrifice we see plainly what has already been given to us. Those sacrifices foretold the death of the Son of God for sinners. In this sacrifice he is proclaimed as already slain for sinners, as the Apostle testifies:

Christ died for the wicked at a time when we were still powerless,

and when we were enemies we were reconciled with God through the death of his Son.

Responsory

When you were estranged from God,

your minds alienated from him by a life of sin,

he used Christ’s natural body to win you back through his death,

so that he might bring you into his presence holy, pure and blameless.

God offered him so that by his death he should become the means by which men’s souls are forgiven,

through their faith in him,

so that he might bring you into his presence holy, pure and blameless.